A 23-year-old Jersey City man continued to insist on his innocence minutes before he was sentenced to 60 years in prison yesterday for the murder of his 17-year-old girlfriend who was shot in the head in 2009.

Applause and shouts of “Yes” rang out in the courtroom when friends and family members of Quaneera Adams heard the sentence meted out to Woodrow Miller yesterday afternoon by Superior Court Judge John Young.

“You have been engaged in criminal behavior nonstop since the age of 12 and any break that occurred was because of your incarceration,” Young said.

Young said Miller was involved in the juvenile justice system 29 times on charges including robbery, aggravated assault, theft, escape, simple assault, fighting, violations of parole and a weapons offense.

“You have to be deterred as an individual and society has to know this kind of conduct will not be tolerated,” said Young, who called the murder “a cowardly act.”

Prior to the sentencing, Miller stood and apologized to Adams’ friends and family members, but said, “I am not responsible for the crime. I didn’t kill her.”

At the hearing, it was noted that Miller spat at his first attorney in court before a pretrial hearing and was forced to wear a mask at subsequent pretrial hearings. During another pretrial hearing, he kicked his current lawyer, Mark Bailey.

Miller faced 30 years to life on the murder conviction and Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Christina Krauthamer asked Young to sentence Miller to life, noting his extensive juvenile record, the pain he caused the Adams family and friends and because he has shown no remorse.

At the hearing, Krauthamer read a statement written by Quaneera Adams’ sister, Quafikqua, in which she said Miller is solely responsible for the pain and suffering of her sister’s entire family and friends.

“Quaneera was a youthful beautiful young lady inside and out, just beginning her young adult life,” Krauthamer read as sobs could be heard from the court benches. “She had dreams that are now buried with her. She has nieces and nephews who were robbed of ever being blessed to know their auntie. The possibilities were endless for Quaneera, and Mr. Miller ended them all.”

Miller and Quaneera Adams were students at Lincoln High School at the time of the murder, and Miller was the only person present in his Forrest Street home at the time of the shooting. He was led from the house in blood-splattered clothes by police who initially charged him with hindering apprehension and obstructing justice for cleaning up the murder scene before calling 911.

Inside, police found one spent shell in a bedroom and another in a toilet bowl. Miller was convicted at trial and yesterday he was sentenced to 55 years for the murder and five years for hindering apprehension by altering the crime scene.

The 23-year-old will have to serve about 49 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole at the age of 72. Miller showed no emotion as Young pronounced the sentence.